Algeria plan to buy Orascom’s Djezzy unchanged -agency

Talks between Orascom Telecom and Vimpelcom will not change Algeria’s plan to buy Orascom Telecom’s local Djezzy unit, the Algerian Industry and Investment Promotion Minister said on Tuesday.

“Any change in the shareholding of Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) does not undermine commitments already made to give Orascom Telecom Algeria (OTA) to the Algerian state,” the minister, Mohamed Benmeradi, was quoted by the APS official news agency as saying.

“Ongoing negotiations between the Algerian state and the owners of the OTA group were not challenged,” he said, referring to talks between Russia’s Vimpelcom and Orascom Telecom.

He said Djezzy was not involved in the negotiations between the two groups, and Algeria was still ready to acquire Djezzy.

“These are two separate operations. The first relates to a transaction between two international holdings, and the second relates to a process of transfer of rights (in Djezzy) … following the decision of the Algerian state to exercise its pre-emptive right,” he said.